The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) Read Online Free Page A

rekindled what had been bogged down in all the muck of the last year and a half.  Buried under the stress, the anger, the fear, the pain, the confusion.  Our love for each other threatened to overwhelm my heart again, and that thrilled me to no end. 
    We took long midnight strolls in the woods, we laughed, we talked, we found out things about each other than we hadn’t had time to find out before. And we made love endlessly.  Whenever we had time, and sometimes even when we didn’t. It excited him every time that I linked to him and thought to him, ‘I’ve got ten minutes, meet me in our room?’ He usually never bothered to answer with anything but a growl, which excited the hell out of me.  I barely ever thought of Carlos, and I never reached out to talk to him.  He needed time and I did too.  I missed him terribly, but I wanted to be sure I was missing him for the right reasons.  I wanted to miss my best friend, the one who could always make me smile, always make me laugh, and that would take a little more time, for both of us.
    The day before the clinic opened, I asked Matt to join me on a walk through the village.  We put up fliers and talked to a lot of people.  They were all really e xcited about having the clinic, but not nearly as excited as I was about running it.  And as excited as I was, I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on my life.
    I was in the clinic at seven the next morning, and so was everyone else, even though the doors weren’t supposed to open until eig ht.  We had two doctors on duty, David and Cameron, along with four nurses and Missy’s best friend Tanya at the front desk. A few people arrived early, including a young mother, Carmela, with her two small children.  Her three-year-old boy was due for immunizations and a check-up, but she didn’t have a babysitter, so she had to bring her four-month-old baby girl with her.  I was talking to her when her son tugged on my dress.  I bent down to him, and he pointed to the toys.  “Do you want to play with the toys?” I asked.  He nodded and then put his hand in mine, dragging me over to the play area with him.  My heart sputtered for a second – the last small hand I had held was my son’s– but then he looked up at me with his big, beautiful, brown eyes and smiled.  And I couldn’t help but smile back.  He pulled on my arm and I knew he wanted me down on the carpet next to him.  I sat down crossed-legged as he pointed to the blocks.  I handed some to him and he and I started building, laughing and playing.  His mom came and sat in the chairs next to us, smiling, as she rocked her little one, who had started to fuss. Monica came in then and told her that the doctor was ready to see Juan.  Her little girl was really fussing now. 
    She looked at me . “Would you mind holding Sophia while I take Juan inside?  I don’t want her crying to upset him.” 
    I looked at her for half a second then stood up . “I’d be happy to,” I said and I held my arms out.  I put Sophia’s head on my shoulder and began rocking back and forth and bouncing on my knees, just like I used to do for Scotty, but hadn’t done since.  I quietly hummed to her, and it wasn’t long before her fussing stopped. I sat down in the chair and placed her on my legs.  She stared at me and began cooing, and then she smiled.  It started to dawn on me that room around me was completely silent.  I looked up and saw that every face in the room was staring at me.  Tanya, Cameron, Lisa, Sandy… and Matt.  I smiled at him, “Come meet my friend, Sophia,” I said.  As he walked over I asked, “Why is everyone staring at me?” 
    Matt looked at the others and said, “I think we’re all in awe right now, this little one was fussing like there’s no tomorrow, and in the space of about thirty seconds you had her smiling.  We could all feel how natural this was for you, how perfect you are at it.”  They all nodded and I blushed.